Posted on 03/10/2008 7:34:35 AM PDT by Pyro7480
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Thou shall not pollute the Earth. Thou shall beware genetic manipulation. Modern times bring with them modern sins. So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight.
The guidance came at the weekend when Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, the Vatican's number two man in the sometimes murky area of sins and penance, spoke of modern evils.
Asked what he believed were today's "new sins," he told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the greatest danger zone for the modern soul was the largely uncharted world of bioethics.
"(Within bioethics) there are areas where we absolutely must denounce some violations of the fundamental rights of human nature through experiments and genetic manipulation whose outcome is difficult to predict and control," he said.
The Vatican opposes stem cell research that involves destruction of embryos and has warned against the prospect of human cloning.
Girotti, in an interview headlined "New Forms of Social Sin," also listed "ecological" offences as modern evils.
In recent months, Pope Benedict has made several strong appeals for the protection of the environment, saying issues such as climate change had become gravely important for the entire human race.
Under Benedict and his predecessor John Paul, the Vatican has become progressively "green."
It has installed photovoltaic cells on buildings to produce electricity and hosted a scientific conference to discuss the ramifications of global warming and climate change, widely blamed on human use of fossil fuels.
Girotti, who is number two in the Vatican "Apostolic Penitentiary," which deals with matter of conscience, also listed drug trafficking and social and economic injustices as modern sins.
But Girotti also bemoaned that fewer and fewer Catholics go to confession at all.
He pointed to a study by Milan's Catholic University that showed that up to 60 percent of Catholic faithful in Italy stopped going to confession.
In the sacrament of Penance, Catholics confess their sins to a priest who absolves them in God's name.
But the same study by the Catholic University showed that 30 percent of Italian Catholics believed that there was no need for a priest to be God's intermediary and 20 percent felt uncomfortable talking about their sins to another person.
(Editing by Keith Weir)
Catholic ping!
There’s nothing new about it’s being wrong wantonly to misuse the goods of creation.
There are new elements in the area of biological sciences, but I think the Church is doing a good job of applying the core principles of morality to technological innovations.
hahaahahahaahahahahahahaha
I don’t think they’d recognize “objectivity” if they cracked their skulls on it.
This is actually one of the reasons. The focus on what was referred to under Paul VI and JPII as "systemic sin" or, in other words, some collective act committed usually by a government, completely confused people.
First of all, there's nothing most of us can do about it, since it is not something we have done personally and usually haven't even voted for or had anything to do with the person who is actually doing it (assuming there is one).
I hope this is just Reuters finding the most left-wing person they can and making it sound as if his word is the defining one.
I don't think there's anything wrong with reasonable energy conservation policies - it makes good sense from the point of view of one's personal budget, and it is usually not hard to do. But making it sound as if using a higher-watt bulb is sinful is something that simply invites ridicule and makes people shrug off the whole concept of sin.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1983234/posts
This was posted earlier... appears the reporter class has an agenda a few weeks before earth day.
First, al-Reuters makes a mountain out of a molehill. The interview some bishop, and talk about how timeless principles of morality apply to XXI Century society. This, they blow up as though someone had invented wholly new categories of moral principle. Nonsense!
Second, al-Reuters makes a molehill out of a mountain. That many nominal Catholics (and indeed folks in the West in general) have lost any sense of objective right and wrong, is a serious problem. They treat it almost as a joke.
Ping to follow the discussion
Penitent: Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It's been --- years--- since my last confession.
Confessor: Why so long?
P: Well, I don't feel like I've been committing, y'know, sins. I mean, nobody's perfect, I'm only human after all, but I do pretty good, I make an effort, and ...
C: (deep sigh) -- So, why are you in Confession NOW?
P: Because I feel guilty about ... bad stuff.
C: Like?
P: Like, global warming the shrinking of the ozone layer, the extinction of the purple-banded snail darter, the Whole World Situation...
C: (another sigh) How many times?
....
C: And for your penance, say...
P: Please don't give me rote prayers, Father. I don't know any rote prayers.
C: The Our Father? The Glory Be?
P: Well, here's one. I know the Angelus.
C: Good. For your penance, say the Angelus.
P: Bon-n-n-g ---- Bon-n-n-n-g-g-g-g---- Bonnnnn-n-n-g-g-g...
St. Gore will be pleased with this newest addition to the Earth-friendly sequacious; with the Southern Baptists already on board his Ark will soon be ready to set sail.
Synthetic Sin is more like it.
I wouldn't trust al-Reuters or AP to faithfully represent dog show results let alone real news.
Now all we need is an English translation.
LOL! Sending this one to my priest...
Exactly. And most people, even if they can’t analyze exactly why, know that this devalues the whole concept of sin. (Not to mention the priests who have learned this nonsense in seminary and inflict it on folks in the confessional!)
Genesis 1:26 (NIV)
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
But then again, as often seen on here, arguments include include (take your pick...)
A) It’s Old Testament so it doesn’t count
B) Catholics don’t follow the Bible, they follow the Pope
C) Genesis is an allegory
Others?
That many nominal Catholics (and indeed folks in the West in general) have lost any sense of objective right and wrong, is a serious problem. They treat it almost as a joke.
&&&
You are so right about that.
On a related point, yesterday, my priest made the statement that the major failing of our generation for its children is that of not giving them a strong faith background, one that they can cling to when life presents them with difficulties large and small.
I agree with you completely. How much spin is in this?
There is nothing on zenit, so I figure it’s spin.
That's because they lack the reasoning ability to conceptualize and then specifically identify objective right and wrong.
Even the muslims have a surrah that says that you should not urinate in the well from which the camp drinks.
Allegory, all is allegory, save vanity in her righteous mask.
Deuteronomy 23:13
That is my thought too. Although I have to admit that when I heard this on Fox News this morning I thought, “Oh, I just left the Episcopal Church because of this left-wing bilge and it has followed me!”
That's what MSM want you to think ... Some of the other stories on this subject are even worse. They're clearly written to ridicule.
“Love your neighbor as yourself” means it’s wrong deliberately to mess things up for others. As I said above, this is nothing new.
How does rule translate into dump toxins into the air which can slowly poison creation and your children? How does being given stewardship mean we have carte blance to waste the resources God has blessed us with? Does it mean we have no obligation to consider the impact certain practices might have on the life of the poor?
God gave us care of the earth and creation. He did this because of His love for it and the joy He took in its existence. He did this because as Paul says of Christ “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Creation is a joy and blessing given to us by God. Having care of it does not give us the right to abuse it.
Every mortal sin is a “deadly” sin. The author of the article is mistakenly giving the impression that there are seven new CAPITAL sins. There always will be only seven capital sins.
As you said, this is Reuters. Odds are that Archbishop Girotti will be told to stick a sock in it when it comes to dealing with news agencies that are notoriously conniving, innacurate, and willfully ignorant of the faith.
I have dominion over my house. Is it moral to burn it down if I’m a pyromaniac and I get enjoyment out of it? What about other people living in my house? Isn’t it in their interest that I not destroy it just for my own gratification?
Hmmm. I guess my clarity left something to be desired?
What I wrote: Genesis 1:26 (NIV) “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” is in agreement (before you wrote it) w/ what I said, especially “...over al the earth...”
My next section was a dig against the protacted theological arguments that
occur on FR between Catholics, Protestants, Atheists, Druids, Pre-tribs, Post-tribs No-tribs, KJV-only, NIV, Orthodox Jews, Reformed Jews, TULIP pickers, Reconstructionists, SDA’s, LDS’s, Universalists, etc, etc, etc.
What I wrote....
“But then again, as often seen on here, arguments include include (take your pick...)
A) It’s Old Testament so it doesn’t count
B) Catholics don’t follow the Bible, they follow the Pope
C) Genesis is an allegory”
I was about to add some patristics on the subject of mankind’s responsibility for creation and that it was and is our sinfulness which has distorted God’s perfect creation...but you two are doing just fine! Thanks!
“patristics”
Good word.
I apologize Purple your post caught my eye at a very bad time. I was also muddied headed and a bit snarly. Sorry.
You’re welcome. I’m sure whatever the Greek Fathers had to say would have been interesting, if not concise :-).
This is just the MSM trying to get people who really agree with each other (on many points) to fight with each other. We’re silly if we fall for it.
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